As part of the Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge 2012 (Twitter:
#nfpb2012), my goal is to read and review as many of the new
non-fiction picture books that are released this year. Wednesdays will
be my primary day to post the reviews.

This past week felt like a bonus for discovering nonfiction picture books that I have been looking for or even discovering one or two new ones. As a result, I decided to do a mini-review of one book and include a bunch of other books.

Sometimes art-style books don't quite work, and sometimes it comes out just right. In Invitation to Ballet, Vaughan & Isadora get it right. The text provides young readers with basic information about the history of ballet and ballet poses and more. The informative but readable text combined with a mixture of Isadora's illustrations of young children in various ballet poses and Degas' artwork of ballerinas make this a book a wonderful gift for young ballet enthusiasts.

Here are some of the other nonfiction picture book standouts from the past week...

Robin, Where are You? by Harriet Ziefert; Illustrated by Noah Woods - This lift the flap book was a lot of fun. A young girl goes bird watching with her grandfather. Behind the flaps are various bird facts. At the end, there is a flap with a surprise.

How Things Work in the House by Lisa Campell Ernst - Each page is dedicated to a different household item and great little facts for each thing. My favorite was the two page spread that had a sock on one side and a sock monkey on the other.

Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Childby Jessie Hartland - I had mixed feelings on this book. The writing was fun and the illustrations just the right kind of quirky, but the format/lay-out of the text was hard to follow. Regardless, this made me want to go watch Julie & Julia again.